


Take my Hand (help me on my way)

by wheredwellthe_brave_atheart



Series: Out of This Dull World [5]
Category: Artemis Fowl - Eoin Colfer
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-10
Updated: 2015-07-10
Packaged: 2018-04-08 14:13:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,779
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4308195
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wheredwellthe_brave_atheart/pseuds/wheredwellthe_brave_atheart
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>""We knew this would be hard," Holly admits, staring stubbornly at the constellation of whorls and grooves in the roofing above them. "You know we talked about it. And, Frond knows I thought about it, when-" she smiles wryly. "Well, when you were dead." </p><p>Artemis exhales, and presses the pads of his thumb and forefinger together. The problem is they both know it doesn't work - being apart."</p><p>Artemis and Holly, together.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Take my Hand (help me on my way)

**Author's Note:**

> This is a work of fan fiction using characters from the Artemis Fowl world, created by Eoin Colfer. I do not claim ownership over the word or any characters used. I am not profiting in any way from this work, it is my own invention and for entertainment only, and it is not purported to be a part of Eoin Colfer’s official storyline.
> 
> Title from the amazing Mumford and Sons. 
> 
> Here be chess metaphors, (hopefully) non-gratuitous hand-holding, almost-smut, sort-of angst, and lots of love. 
> 
> Enjoy!

Under the soft lighting of sim-candles and with the low murmur of other restaurant patrons around her; Holly spears her salad with perhaps a bit too much vigor. Work's been busy - the LEP is building a task force to aid with the integration efforts between humans and fairies, and on this first coinciding night off in a week, she and Artemis are dining in one of her favourite restaurants in downtown Haven. 

Unfortunately, it's also inhabited by a large party of pixies who keep glaring in the direction of her table, and whispering, by the looks of it, ugly comments about the young man sitting across from her. Even more than a year after the Techno Crash - the catalyst for gradual communication between fairies and humans - there are still dim-witted fairies holding onto ideals which do not agree with interspecies relationships of any kind. 

Holly finds prejudices based on really irrelevant qualities frankly irritating, and she glares right back at the other table. 

Artemis is enjoying his mango chutney and waxing poetic about flight technology, so Holly tries to focus on him instead of the pixies. 

"The wing capability is truly fascinating - the engine design alone far surpasses that of any human technology, but the wings are also much more responsive," Artemis was saying. "It would be exceptionally interesting to see the effects on the Cessna, were I to combine the equipment." 

Holly rolls her eyes. "Are you hinting at something, Fowl?" she asks, stealing a bite of his dinner. 

Artemis presents a look of innocent affront. "I assure you, Holly, my intentions are purely scientific. No more world domination, remember?" He fidgets with the rolled-up cuffs of his sleeves - a request made by Holly, who happens to admire the effect. "However," he admits, "I suppose I can't deny that I am intrigued by the possibilities of the scenario. Aren't you?" he asks. 

She smiles playfully. "Yes, of course. But it's not technically my job to make every fairy-related desire of yours a reality, you know," she reminds him, gesturing with her fork. "There are still rules, even if we don't happen to follow most of them."

Artemis smirks. "Aren't fairies generally involved in the occupation of wish fulfillment?" he asks, swirling his spring water into a funnel in his glass. 

Holly succumbs to the banter, and grins. "Oh, I suppose," she teases. "It's a bit of a stretch, but you're cute when you're trying to flirt."

He's taken her free hand in his, and is brushing his thumb over the back of it; a deceptively subtle gesture. 

He meets her gaze, and raises one eyebrow. "Trying?" he asks, linking their fingers together on the tabletop. 

She purses her lips. "Succeeding," she concedes, and leans forward slowly. 

Then, a hideous snarl from the next table rips the delicate moment apart like a rock pitched through a spiderweb. 

The table's entire party leaps to their feet as one pixie snatches a butter knife from the burgundy tablecloth and runs, shrieking obscenities, directly at Holly and Artemis. 

'Filth! Traitor! Mud-crawler!' he screeches, weapon aimed for either of their throats. 

Holly flips into a crouch on top of the table so fast the room blurs around her. She crunches the side of her hand into the pixie's wrist, breaking his hold on the knife, and yanks his arm behind his back until he's howling in pain, writhing on the table's edge. 

With her attentions on their leader, the rest of the group rushes Artemis, each clawing at a different limb in an attempt, no doubt, to sedate the human interloper. Screams erupt all around them as this unprecedented fight sends Haven restauranteurs sprawling. 

Holly dumps the ringleader onto the floor, and reaches blindly for anything to help her in this skirmish - she picks up her dinner fork, and springs off the table. 

"I take it you aren't familiar with chess, gentlemen?" Artemis's call reaches Holly over the din. 

"What are you on about?" the one hanging onto his right elbow snarls. 

She watches Artemis laugh. "It's just, if you were, you would have known better," he shakes his head, "than to Check the king with the queen still in play."

He locks eyes with Holly and she strikes. 

It's really a lot easier to incapacitate enemies who are willing to surrender. Holly's speedy dismantlement of their kingpin clearly rattles the group, and when she attacks, most relinquish their grip on Artemis, yelping in shock. 

As Artemis valiantly attempts to appear useful in this physical situation by locking his long fingers around the wrists of two of his captors, it's Holly who uses the end of her fork to pinch the nerves of the terrified band, ensuring they'll wake up in a few hours with a strong headache and a healthy respect for the police force. 

"Don't capture the King, boys," Holly hears Artemis tut, as she runs to catch the last attacker, who is attempting a getaway. "Cage the Queen."

She feels a glow of pride, at that. 'Queen,' she thinks. 'Damn right.' 

While the literal and metaphorical dust settles, Holly senses the intensity of Artemis's gaze on her back. She straightens and shrugs the fight from her shoulders, swiveling to lock her human lover in her sights. 

There's silence in the restaurant. 

She walks to him with a steady pace; not rushing or fumbling as she calmly picks her way around the debris, crunching over broken plates to stand a meter away from him. 

A moment of uncertainty - what's he thinking? Is he angry? Embarrassed? Holly doesn't know, and she's afraid he might retreat. 

But while she's searching his face, he closes the distance between them, reaching for the fork still clenched in her fingers. 

Holly feels heat surge up her spine at the brush of his fingertips against her own. They're standing so close that it's easy for her to drop her makeshift weapon with a clatter onto the hard floor and yank him by the tie into a deep kiss. 

Gone are the days when his hands would twitch in the air spasmodically, unsure of where to land on her body. Artemis wraps an arm around her and she pulls him close, until she can feel his heartbeat. It's still a bit fast for her liking - his cloned body's pulse beats just a little quick; not to mention the affect of the situation's added adrenaline on its tempo - but right now Holly rather likes the extra assurance of his vitality thumping under her touch. 

They break apart, and Artemis clears his throat. He glances around them swiftly, but Holly keeps her eyes on him, no longer in the mood to care about the other fairies. 

"I must admit, I did not predict that," he says, a flush creeping up his face. "But... I am pleased by the outcome, nonetheless. Brilliantly done, Holly."

She laughs. "The attack or the snog?"

He smirks, straightening his tie. "Both, of course."

Holly smoothes her hair back and turns to face the gaping crowd, locating the restaurant's sprite manager by her uniform and by her unparalleled expression of shock. 

"We'll be taking our dinner to go," Holly informs her blithely. 

...

Once the LEP squad on duty arrives to clean up the scene, Holly flags down a green cab in the city centre, and they finish their discussion about the use of fairy technology on the Cessna during the short ride to her apartment. They climb out still arguing over whether the plane's solar power would be affected by LEP battery cell design, and the driver interrupts Holly's protestations that: "Of course the wing design needs to be adjusted - look at the Dragonfly model, it's clearly more aerodynamic than that bulky thing I crashed into the lake," to ask for his gold. 

Although their dinner was given to them on the house, with the frantic manager's sincere apologies, Artemis is still given a chance to practice counting Haven currency. He hands it to the driver, and points out the swear toads hidden along the gnome's path before he drives away. 

"And, Mud-Man," Holly prods his shoulder as he turns around, still in full rant, "I distinctly recall you sneaking a look at some of Foaly's blueprints for miniature wing models when you were building the Cessna in the first place, so don't try to tell me the two don't influence each other." She finishes her tirade with a huff; then narrows her eyes at the faint smile on his face. 

"What, Artemis?" she asks, glancing around them. 

The young man shrugs. "You are quite right. I simply enjoy debating with you."

She punches him on the arm. "I knew it," she crows, triumphant as Juliet at the end of a winning match. "We'll try it out next month, yeah? So we can both be proven right." 

Artemis nods, and she grasps his hand, scanning her card to enter the building. They board the elevator on the ground floor, and start kissing again somewhere between the fourth and fifth levels, so by the time the doors hiss open onto Holly's floor, they stumble slightly as they disembark, and Artemis chuckles into Holly's mouth. 

He eventually notices when a considerable length of time has passed and they've remained in the hallway, still at her door. 

"Holly-" he manages to gasp, his hands somehow now at her waist. 

"Mmhm?" The elf replies somewhat incoherently, her lips attached to his throat. 

Artemis struggles to form sentences as her mouth latches onto the pulse point under his jaw. "Er- might I... suggest...we move inside? I feel as though - much as I enjoy this - we should discuss this evening-" But his eyes flutter shut as she presses him back against the door, her body aligned with his, and he doesn't finish the thought. 

Holly clearly gets the gist of it, though, and fumbles with her holo-pad combination while his hands roam up into her hair. When he hears the triple beep that signifies her door is now unlocked, Artemis grasps behind him for the handle, twisting it sharply and maneuvering them into Holly's apartment. 

He knows the layout well - Butler would be proud of him for keeping a mental map of this apartment to such a degree. In other situations, he would have done so to make note of exit routes, obstacles, or hiding places; but in this case, he knows Holly's apartment so well simply because of the affection he holds for the place, and the amount of time he spends here. 

They keep a hold of each other crossing the threshold - 'Dwellings', Artemis chuckles to himself, remembering countless times when they had been intruders together, and the old hex had held any bite. He shuts the door hastily behind them, ready to talk about the attack, but Holly gets hold of his tie and begins to unknot it with quick elfin fingers. 

"Careful," he protests, as she whips the length of material out from underneath his collar. "That's Armani silk."

Holly laughs throatily, and kisses his neck. "Hm," she sighs. "With the tie on, Arty," she explains, "I couldn't do this:" She runs her tongue over his collarbone, trailing across his skin languidly. "And I really wanted to do that." 

He recovers enough to watch her blink up at him mischievously, dangling the tie from two fingers. "Are you sure you still care about this?" 

Artemis swallows heavily, weighing his options as any legal professional would. Or, at least, as anyone with a half a dozen published papers on international law would. "Definitely not," he admits. "You have quite the talent." 

Holly laughs again and drops the tie onto the floor. "Gift of Tongues, Arty," she quips, with a wicked smirk, and saunters through to the bedroom.

Artemis certainly does not hesitate before following her. 

... 

A few hours later, Artemis studies the curve of Holly's shoulder as she breathes beside him. She's lit by sim-moonlight, and by the magic that glows from within her. 

He traces equations for flight on her skin with an index finger. Eventually, he shifts to intricate rune patterns, swirling across her back, ghosting down her vertebrae. She shivers, and laughs lightly. 

"Protection," she mumbles, trying to guess the rune. "And... Strength?" 

"Yes," he says, and runs his palm down the crest of her ribcage, wiping his imaginary chalkboard clean. "Well done."

Her back is still turned to him, and he lets a few silent moments pass. 

He so rarely holds his tongue around her anymore. Artemis thinks back to a moment more than a decade into his own past, when she had looked at him on the hood of a stolen car, in a wheat field turned golden by the sun, and he had finally chosen to tell her the truth. 

'Lying to her had become pointless,' he muses. 'It was far too painful. For both of us.' 

"Holly..." he murmurs, hesitant. 

She turns over to face him, simply fixing her eyes on his face to indicate he could continue. 

"This evening," Artemis began, "in the restaurant. It was my fault."

Holly shifts closer to him. "Artemis," she says, in an attempt to interrupt his speech, but he presses on. 

"They were angered by my presence in Haven, and by my connection to you, Holly," he insists. "I put you and the other civilians at risk by being here with you. I don't - can we allow that to continue?" His voice is thin, and his question hovers like a reluctant fog, clouding the bedroom. 

Holly huffs in irritation. "This isn't on you, genius. It's ridiculous that these old prejudices are still in place," she snaps. "Look at all the progress we've made since the Crash. It's happening gradually, fine, but that doesn't mean you can't- " She scowls. "That we can't-" Holly grinds her teeth in frustration, flipping on her back to glare at the ceiling. 

"We knew this would be hard," she admits, staring stubbornly at the constellation of whorls and grooves in the roofing above them. "You know we talked about it. And, Frond knows I thought about it, when-" she smiles wryly. "Well, when you were dead." 

Artemis exhales, and presses the pads of his thumb and forefinger together. The problem is they both know it doesn't work - being apart. 

They both know well the shape of loneliness. And the truth is that she suffered all through the six months of his death, and he barely managed three minutes of hers. 

Artemis closes his eyes and swallows back against the sudden visions of Holly laying dead on Hybras's ashy ground, the sky stained red. He tenses his body, remembering his terror of losing the count, and losing her - losing everything. 

"Hey," her voice is soft and gentle, suddenly, and she takes his clenched fist in her hand. "Hey, you're here," she reminds him. "I'm here, Artemis, all right?"

He allows her touch to calm him, and he links his fingers with hers again, like he did in the restaurant earlier that night. 

"I'm a fool," he sighs, and she opens her mouth to protest, before he explains: "I'm a fool to think I could survive without you." 

"Shut up," Holly says gruffly, rolling her eyes. 

He smiles. "Holly, I rebuilt this soul with you in mind. You and everyone else I love: Butler, Juliet, Foaly and my family. Gods, even Mulch. But you - you are such a part of me. I couldn't possibly let that go."

She groans, covering her face in her free hand. "Wow," she exclaims. "Artemis Fowl, great criminal mastermind. I can see why your romance novels do so well," she teases, but squeezes his hand anyway. 

"You're a part of me, too, obviously," she assures him, tapping under her blue eye. "Literally, even." She flicks her gaze to him. "I was surprised, you know, when you came back to us, and your eyes were both - well, both yours. I had gotten used to it, I guess." Artemis hears the slight note of regret in her voice, and he meets her gaze, cupping her cheek in his hand. 

"You changed the way I see the world from the moment I met you," he murmurs, kissing her gently. "It isn't any different now." 

The whole world around him, and at twelve years old he'd found her- he'd been desperate and broken, and after all these years she still hadn't stopped saving him.

He fervently hopes he will forever be able to try to do the same for her. 

'After all,' Artemis thinks, as he lies next to Holly. 'We do make quite an incredible team.'

She sends a spark of contented magic along their intertwined fingers, and he smiles.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank-you for reading! I hope you love Holly and Arty as much as I do, an I hope you enjoyed. Please let me know what you thought!


End file.
